How valuable is ActionCOACH business coaching to a business owner?
That question was recently posed as part of a recent independent study on the value and effectiveness of business coaching conducted by the UK-based Cogent Research.
The Cogent research study comes on the heels of a recent U.S.-based study of companies coached by ActionCOACH in South Florida. That study showed that despite the recession, coached companies had grown revenues by more than $12 million. The research study also revealed coached businesses saw a return on investment (ROI) of 7.5-to-1, or $7.50 in return for every $1 invested in coaching.
In the UK, Cogent found the following statistics:
• 74% of ActionCOACH coached businesses increased sales last year compared to only 43% of non-coached businesses
• 30% average annual sales growth in ActionCOACH coached businesses compared to only 13% in non-coached businesses
• 82% of ActionCOACH coached businesses are confident of sales growth in the next 12 months compared to only 55% of non-coached businesses
• 53% of ActionCOACH coached businesses increased profits last year compared to only 35% of non-coached businesses
• 77% of ActionCOACH coached businesses forecast growth in profit in next 12 months
• 30% of ActionCOACH coached businesses increased their profits in the last 12 months by more than £50,000
• 56% of ActionCOACH coached businesses increased their workforce compared to only 14% of non-coached businesses
• 91% of ActionCOACH coached businesses have a plan for the next quarter compared to only 37% in non-coached businesses
• 97% of coached businesses would recommend coaching to other SME’s (small and medium enterprises)
Cogent also noted that:
“Businesses generally who had adopted formalised procedures such as those recommended by ActionCOACH (e.g. workflow procedures, twelve month budgets, written business plans, KPI’s) appeared to not only have weathered the adverse trading conditions of the previous twelve months but have actually increased sales, profits and workforce.”
Can business coaching help your business grow and succeed?
Contact an ActionCOACH near you today to find out.
Remember, it’s better to ask and get your questions answered BEFORE you start your company … you’ll be a lot better off knowing if your idea is truly viable at the start, rather than finding out (too late) that it might not be, or that the numbers don’t work.
The most common complaint we get today as business coaches to small to medium sized business owners is that, “we can’t compete with the big guys on price.”
A Good Business Mentor Wll Show Your How to Sell Value to Price Focused Shoppers
The perception in the market place is that people are shopping on price alone. The only reason your customer asks the price up front is because that is what we as business owners have trained them to do.
How many times have you rung or gone into a business not really knowing what model, style, color or features you were looking for and purely asked for the price? At this point did the sales person come back with “that is £29.95” or did they ask you some questions about what you were looking to use the product/service for? In this instance let’s say it is a kettle.
Now in most people’s eyes a kettle is a kettle; but, they have many different features and offer many different benefits. So what if the sales person simply said to you when you inquired about price, “just so I can help you best is it okay if I ask you a couple of questions about the kettle you are looking for?”
Would you have answered yes?
The sales person could then ask questions like:
Are you looking to replace an existing kettle or is it a gift for someone?
Do you regularly use your kettle or is it rarely used?
Would you like a kettle with a quick boiling time?
Have you seen the cordless options that are available?
Are you looking for something to match your kitchen?
So what color are you looking for?
Is it important that it has an automatic cut off when the kettle is boiled?
Are you after a stove-top option, or an electric kettle?
Kettles come in different cup capacity; what cup capacity do you require?
From these questions, the customer gets the idea that the sales person is genuinely interested in their needs and the salesperson is able to offer options in the most suitable kettles for their needs. The price is therefore negated.
It’s just a matter of now asking the customer to buy.
A good salesperson would then ask, “well, based on what we have just spoken about there are two options to choose from, model x and model y, which one suits you best? Great, I can either put that away for now or I can process it on credit card for you and have it delivered to you tomorrow – which do you prefer?”
If the option is credit card, ask, “which credit card is it easiest to process that on?” and make sure the prospect is aware there will be a delivery charge of x amount.
If the option they choose is to have it put away, this gives the sales person the opportunity to get the customers’ name and contact details.
If the customer chooses this option make sure the sales person gets a time frame for them to pick the item up. Be definite with the infinite. If the customer is in your business the sales person then simply takes them to the point of sale terminal and transacts the sale.
This example was based on a kettle, a relatively small value item. How does this apply to your business? This process works equally well on cars, houses, furniture, service based businesses and any other product, including funeral homes.
You just need to work out what your customers are actually looking for when they ask for the price, and what’s most important to them in their buying decision!
And a good business mentor in the form of an ActionCOACH Business Coach can do just that.
The “5 Ways” can be one of the most powerful systems and “secrets” in business you can ever make work for you and your company.
Grow your business with the powerful and expontential "5 Ways" formula.
Hopefully, you got some great value from the article on the “5 Ways” … we’d love to hear your thoughts about the formula and how it might help you in your business!
If you’re looking for any sort of tips, strategies and tools that have to do with business coaching or business help, ActionCOACH is the place to look.
Pssst….want to know a secret? Better yet, 7 secrets?
We’re about to let you in on 7 business tips that business coaches tell their clients when they ask questions about marketing. Marketing is something that’s vital to business, and most clients want to know how they can improve their marketing strategies.
These tips are exactly what a business coach would tell you in a business coaching session…so if you’re interested in learning more, perhaps you should consider contacting ActionCOACH.
Step #1. Marketing’s an Investment not an Expense …
Whenever you place an advertisement, send out a sales letter, or do any piece of marketing you have to make sure your investment pays off. From this day forth you’ll never sell to another new customer again. You’ll BUY new customers, and your marketing budget is how much you’re paying for them …
Before you run any marketing campaign, do a break even analysis and work out how many sales you need to make a profit …
Step #2. Test and Measure Everything …
Test which ads are working, test which headlines work better and you’ll quickly become a marketing genius. In fact, instead of writing just one ad, write 7 or 8 and place every one, find out which one works the best, and keep on running it.
Measuring your results is simple … Just ask each and every customer the question, “Can I just ask, how did you find out about us?” And, keep a tally. At the end of the day you’ll know exactly how many sales you got from each marketing approach.
Step #3. Target … Offer … Copy …
The 3 most important aspects of every marketing campaign … Scoring just 1/10 in an importance rating is the copy, or words you use. It’s still in the top 3 but what you write won’t have much effect unless you get your offer right. It scores 5/10. Simply put, you’ll find it hard selling people something they just don’t want.
Scoring a massive 10/10 is your target market … If your marketing isn’t working, the first thing you need to examine is who you’re trying to sell to. Where is your ad placed, who have you sent your direct mail to and so on …
Step #4. You’ve got to Increase Your Conversion Rate …
Most business people believe they’re selling to about 6 or 7 out of every 10 leads they get … The truth is that when most people test and measure we find it’s more like 2 or 3 out of 10. That’s only 20 or 30%. If you could just sell to another 1 in 10 you’ve added another 30 of 40% to your turnover …
Step #5. Guarantee your Sales and find your Uniqueness …
If you don’t promote a written guarantee your customers are at risk when they buy from you. Remove their risk, and increase your sales by promoting your guarantee.
Also be sure to position yourself uniquely in the market place. If you do everything the same way everybody else does, you’ll have to compete on price. And, that’s like being a wood duck in hunting season …
Step #6. You have to get your customer back …
The reason why most people’s marketing doesn’t make money is that they don’t ask their past customers back. You have to keep a database of past customers, and you have to communicate with them at least every 90 days … Ask them to buy another time and a percentage will. These people are your best target market …
Step #7. Write better headlines for your marketing pieces …
Your headline is 80% of the success of your ad. Put the word YOU in it, focus on your customers, and most importantly, use something other than your company name …
Putting together the “dream team” for your business can be as easy as taking action rather than “information approach”. With a plethora of training options open to employers, it can often be puzzling when trying to find the strategies that are going to achieve results. This is just another benefit to business coaching — a business coach can offer a new perspective on your business and offer tips you might not have thought of, like focusing on your team as a business owner.
There is one basic rule to apply when considering your next team building exercise. “Dream teams” are not built through information or training alone. Seminars, competency training, reading books and watching videos are all helpful strategies but as the age old adage goes “action speaks louder than words”. Being able to perform tasks during training is not the same as applying them on a day to day basis. Just as information does not automatically change behaviours. For example, we read about the dangers of smoking but many people still engage in this behaviour.
Environment is one of the key factors in influencing your team’s success. People base their behaviour on their beliefs about themselves and their environment. Can they have a positive impact on their environment? Does this environment support positive behaviour? Team members should feel that they have the capability to contribute in their environment. This means giving them the right equipment and environment to be effective is essential. It also helps if they feel safe to contribute their opinion and feedback in a supportive environment. But how do you find this out? You simply have to ask. Ask your team if they think there are factors in their environment which could be improved to help them be more efficient, productive or happy. Perhaps they may prefer music as they work, better light, or flexible hours. Many organisations have realised the importance of employee satisfaction on the bottom line. Workplaces now can include facilities such as childcare or the benefits of ergonomically designed work stations.
Beliefs are the key motivators in peoples’ behaviour. However, changing your team members beliefs is not an easy or swift task. Recruiting the right people through personality instruments and team interviews can be one strategy but understanding their beliefs can be important in identifying other strategies. Common beliefs limiting team performance include:
Feedback “I have some constructive feedback but expressing it may cause a confrontation – best to keep it to myself”
Delegation “The only way to get the job done properly is to do it myself”
Sales “Real salespeople are dishonest, pushy and arrogant”
Changing beliefs such as these can be a daunting challenge. Team leaders need to facilitate change by designing flexible experiences for people in organisations to learn that “maybe there is a different way to look at this”. Experiential learning such as climbing trees and playing games aren’t just used because they are fun and help build relationships but because they work. Multiple and varied experiences must be used to inspire new ways of seeing and thinking about things. Reframing opens the mind to new beliefs and behaviour.
Information and ideas are not enough they need to be engrained in day to day activity. You need to look at training options and ask what beliefs in this organisation may hamper or aid in achieving the desired outcome? How can our work environment be changed to support flexibility and greater productivity or what experiences will help foster changes in belief and behaviours? Team building is not an exact science but a cast of finding the best strategies available to bring out the potential in your team.
Because ActionCOACH is the world’s number one business coaching firm, with more than 1,000 offices in 26 countries. That means you not only have access to your Business Coach, but you also have the ability to leverage best practices and programs from ActionCOACH’s exclusive reservoir of more than 328 proven and systemized business building strategies and tactics.
Appointing ActionCOACH as your Business Coach will help you in a number of ways.
A Business Coach can “see the forest for the trees” …
A Business Coach will hold you accountable …
A Business Coach will question the “status quo” to help you make better decisions …
A Business Coach will tell it like it is …
A Business Coach will give you pointers …
A Business Coach will listen …
Your ActionCOACH Business Coach will be a resource you will rely on time and again to help you build your business.
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